“Across America, more than 20 state legislatures are looking over proposed laws that would help guarantee citizens’ access to parts, instructions, and diagnoses to help them repair products—from smartphones to tractors—in their own homes.
Called the “Right to Repair” movement, it’s been growing in urgency and size since the turn of the millennium, and 2023 could be the first year in many where the DIY capability of the American consumer grew, rather than diminished.
In Colorado, a bill was passed along party lines in the State House 9-4, mandating that tractor and other farm equipment manufacturers provide enough parts and instructions to allow farmers to repair their own tractors.
“The manufacturers and the dealers have a monopoly on that repair market because it’s lucrative,” said Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors. “(Farmers) just want to get their machine going again.”
Certain dealers like John Deere (previously) and Steiger don’t allow, as part of the buying agreement, fixes at home, but as an article in the Miami Herald points out, repairmen aren’t on call 24-7 in the high plains of Colorado. One farmer had to wait 5 days for a service on his tractor that stopped during a crucial period in the growing season, where he could have been losing as much as $83,000 a day.
Right to Repair farming legislation is on the table or has already passed in 10 states in the Union, including Colorado, but also Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, and Vermont...
It’s not just tractors that are potentially becoming easier to fix at home, but automobiles as well.
This January, the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act was introduced into the House.
“The legislation would require all tools and equipment, wireless transmission of repair and diagnostic data, and telematics systems needed for vehicle repairs to be made available to the independent repair industry,” writes Automotive News.
The bill has come to the House after similar legislation was passed in Massachusetts and Maine, where lawmakers wanted to beef up the right-to-repair and aftermarket auto parts industry, especially regarding telematic data and other information from onboard computers.
Just as it wasn’t only tractors and farmers who felt their right to DIY repairs needed protecting, it isn’t only mechanical engineering where right-to-repair is flourishing.
The New York state Senate signed the Digital Fair Repair Act into law in the dying days of December, ensuring original equipment manufacturers make parts, instructions, and diagnostics data available to anyone looking to repair a device, such as a smartphone or tablet.
“As technology and smart devices become increasingly essential to our daily lives, consumers should be able to easily fix the devices they rely on in a timely fashion,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This legislation will empower consumers with better options to repair their devices, thereby maximizing the lifespan of their devices, saving money, and reducing electronic waste.” ...
“After a decade of trying, we get two [state laws] in a very short period of time,” Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, told Axios.
“Every single day, I’m seeing a couple more states file a new bill. And I think we’re going to be over 20 states very soon and those bills are moving.”
There’s also something to be said for the ultimate end which consumers of many of these irreparable items are forced to make for them; they end up in landfills. E-waste is a potentially-catastrophic oncoming environmental problem since it doesn’t really biodegrade in any meaningful sense, and recycling it requires technical dismantling.
The right-to-repair is also equally about keeping easily-fixable devices out of the landfills.”
-via Good News Network, 2/14/23
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